


An Uncommon Doctor

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 13:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1650209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria takes care of Natasha after a mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Uncommon Doctor

“Good lord, woman, how many damn windows did you punch?” Maria asks. She’s holding Natasha’s left hand by the fingertips and picking tiny glass shards from her knuckles with tweezers. 

“Just one,” Natasha replies. Her voice is smokier than usual, raspy like it hurts. “Had to punch my way through to get away from the smoke.”

“Drink your tea,” Maria says as she drops a piece of glass onto the paper towel on the coffee table. “Can you feel anything?”

“A little bit,” Natasha replies. 

Maria puts the tweezers on the paper towel and picks up the lidocaine spray. She spritzes it over Natasha’s knuckles and rubs the edges of Natasha’s fingertips when she makes a face. “There’s not much left now.”

“Uh-huh,” Natasha says like she doesn’t believe her. She sips her tea, and the tension on her face drops a little. “You could have told me you spiked it.”

“Spiked it? Please. I put a tea bag in the whiskey and steeped it there for three hours.”

“You did not.” For the first time since she’d arrived back at base with bloody knuckles and the smell of smoke all over her, Natasha smiles.

“I absolutely did. You can thank Melinda for the trick.”

“I’ll do that.” Natasha shifts, and her towel loosens around her chest. She reaches down under it and rubs on her breastbone, giving a half-cough and then swallowing hard.

“Need an inhaler?” Maria asks, turning towards the massive first aid kit. “I wish you’d let the doctor check your lungs.”

“It’s not that bad,” Natasha tells her. “And you know what it would sound like if it was bad enough I needed anything besides what we have.”

“Like an oxygen tank,” Maria says under her breath.

“Yes,” Natasha says, giving Maria an arch look. “Like that.”

Maria sighs and works her neck back and forth before picking up the tweezers. “Getting glass out of your knuckles, that’s child’s play, sweetheart. But smoke inhalation—“

“I just wanted to be home. I was in the smoke for all of ten seconds. I got a couple lungfuls. It’ll clear up by tomorrow.” Natasha reaches out with her uninjured hand and presses her fingers to Maria’s face. Maria tips her head and kisses Natasha on the back of the hand. “And if it doesn’t, I’ll go to the damn doctor. I just wanted to be home, okay?”

“Okay,” Maria says as she straightens up and gets back to work on the glass. “But next time, could you _kick_ the window out?”

“Yes, the next time I need to make a split-second decision about how to exit a flaming building, I will take an extra moment and make sure I’m hitting it with the proper extremity.”

“That’s all I ask,” Maria replies, giving Natasha her own arch look. They stare each other down for a few seconds until Natasha starts coughing. Maria holds still until the spell passes. “Okay?” she asks, though she wants to bundle Natasha up and drag her kicking and screaming to SHIELD medical.

“Fine,” Natasha replies. She gives Maria a soft look. “Just fine.”

“Your charms don’t work on me.” Maria gets another piece of glass between the tweezers and pulls it out. When she looks up, Natasha’s taken off her towel. “Okay, they work on me a little.”

Natasha smiles and sips her tea. “Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Anon who requested it, I hope you like it very much! I don't know if the tea in whiskey thing actually works, but someone should try that. Natasha rubbing at her chest because her lungs hurt is based on my own habit with my asthma. I swear, one day rubbing in just the right spot will totally cure it.


End file.
